Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Rolling Stock Number: 1307 Type: Hopper Category: MOW Last Inventoried: Aug 2, 2004 (Antonito) Description: Per TE and TVV, ballast use - ex-BA&P S.G. car 1307 is RRBX number. Number 2765 shows in places. Aug 1, 2004. Photo: Curt Bianchi [ March 23, 2006, 11:34 PM: Message edited by: Stourbridge Lion ]
Here are two shots from my trip The 2765 in the upper right coner of the end The RRBX 1307 is no longer clear on the car which is why I read it wrong. [ March 12, 2006, 11:49 PM: Message edited by: Stourbridge Lion ]
#60 {Only marking I could still see at the time} C&TS Roster Info lists it as: Purchased by FOCTS, fall 1997. [Dispatch 11-2] Former Florence & Cripple Creek combine. FOCTS - Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad [ March 12, 2006, 11:51 PM: Message edited by: Stourbridge Lion ]
Well, it's time to leave the Antonito, CO yard to head for Chama, NM for the night... BUT... We did have time for more action and photos before the sun set so they will be coming soon... [ March 13, 2006, 01:04 PM: Message edited by: Stourbridge Lion ]
Heading SW along Highway 17 and what do a hear, a STEAM ENGINE starting it's climb up the Cumbres pass. Maybe I can catch it in a few places in my car and still my my check-in time Chama, NM. There it is, taking the bend near Rio De Los Pinos...
Got it, it's the South Bound train to Chama, NM. The wife will set up on one side with her Canon Rebel SLR and I will setup on the other with my Sony Video camera. [ March 13, 2006, 01:05 PM: Message edited by: Stourbridge Lion ]
My wife takes this shot while I'm just on the other side Video Clip: Cumbres & Toltec; Video Clip#1 (15 Sec.)
If you check out the video clip you will this heading right at you. [ March 13, 2006, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: Stourbridge Lion ]
Great pictures. I love that narrow gauge steam. Is there any way to see the video? Never mind… I just saw the link to the video. I got too keyed up over the picture. [ October 05, 2005, 02:32 PM: Message edited by: Curtis ]
I have two (so far) short video clips uploaded into my Railmages galley and can be found at: Video Clip Library MUCH, MUCH, MORE to COME!!!!!!!
From CNN.com Travel Zigzag into fall on historic railway OSIER, Colorado (AP) -- Trains on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railway start running each year in late May, as soon as snow is cleared from the tracks at Cumbres Pass. But fall -- when the aspen trees are a blaze of gold and the Gambel oaks a brilliant red against the dark green mountains -- is the most popular time for travel on the scenic railroad. The cinder-spewing steam train, which meanders at 12 mph through the backcountry, is billed as the longest and highest narrow gauge railroad in the country. The 125-year-old railway runs between Antonito, Colorado, and Chama, New Mexico, a 64-mile zigzag back and forth across the state line at elevations reaching 10,000 feet. The route includes trestles and tunnels, switchbacks and curves, and stunning views of the Toltec Gorge from 600 feet above the river that helped carve it, the Rio de los Pinos. Everyone has a reserved seat, in coaches or a fancier parlor car. But it's more fun to stand in the open observation car -- swaying, squinting, and trying to dodge the occasional blast of acrid smoke from the coal-fired steam locomotive. "I see something new every time I come through here," said Jim Ward, an enthusiastic docent aboard the train who has spotted deer, elk, bear and fox during his trips this summer. The trip takes about six hours -- including a lunch stop. The season ends October 16. Cattle, sheep, lumber, coal, oil and mail once were hauled over this line, which was built in 1880 and once was part of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad -- as was the Durango-to-Silverton line in Colorado, which now also operates as a scenic railway. The Cumbres & Toltec is just one of more than 150 tourist trains operating around the nation, according to Dan Ranger, executive director of the Tourist Railway Association, or TRAIN, an information clearinghouse for such railroads. But he said only about 15 others are narrow gauge -- 3 feet between the rails, good for climbing steep terrain and popular with the lumber and mining industries in the late 1800s. This year, about 40,000 passengers are expected to ride the Cumbres & Toltec, which is jointly owned by New Mexico and Colorado. Trains typically leave simultaneously from Chama and Antonito and meet in the middle for a break in the old stagecoach town of Osier -- now a sprinkling of historic structures alongside a cavernous, modern-day dining hall. Lunch consists of turkey and all the trimmings, meat loaf, soup and salad bar, or mix and match. Desserts include chocolate cake, peach cobbler and buttermilk pie. Passengers switch trains at Osier if they're going all the way to the end of the line, or re-board the same train if they're just making a round trip to Osier. On a recent Sunday afternoon, summer monsoon rains that coincided with lunch kept the Antonito train's passengers in the dining hall during the wait for the Chama crowd. The tourists talked, read, poked around in the gift shop, or sprawled on the benches of the long dining tables, backpacks under their heads. Wanda Burger and her husband, George, a retired firefighter, from Pilot Point, Texas, had four grandchildren in tow: Brittney, 11, Brenden, 10, and Branson and Bryson, both 8. The train trip "is fantastic for grandparents, because you get to see their enjoyment," Burger said.
As the South Bond train goes steamming along past me... [ March 14, 2006, 10:41 PM: Message edited by: Stourbridge Lion ]
